Happiness is constant: Danky Kong platformer brought to Russia
Cartridges with the new "Danky Kong" have appeared in the country, on marketplaces their price starts from 5 thousand rubles. For several months, Russian and not only Russian gamers have been discouraged by experts from buying the release because it seems to be the third time the same game, just labeled HD. "Izvestia was among the first to try Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and was convinced that there is no better cure for winter melancholy.
Donkey Kong Country was the best Nintendo game ever made
This text is not intended for gamers who played Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii and 3DS years ago, but rather for those for whom the Donkey Kong brand means nothing, but the Nintendo Switch is available or planned for purchase. And, of course, you want to understand whether it's worth spending money on a January release for a console that's on its second generation this year and will quietly retire in the coming years.
It's going to be a tough conversation. Because the phrase Donkey Kong is closely associated with nostalgia. 30-odd years ago, when Super Nintendo was every boy's dream in Russia, Donkey Kong Country could be safely considered the number one game, thanks in large part to intensive advertising. Complex, colorful, it was as if it was a natural continuation of the series about Mario's super brothers (actually, Kong is the same age as Mario, they appeared at the same time in the ancient Donkey Kong game of 1981), where you also had to run from left to right, jump on enemies and live, in fact, the same, but very bright adventures.
Danky Kong - a heavy-looking but very fast gorilla - saved his island and his family by jumping on platforms and collecting bananas. It was ultra-technological, dynamic and very challenging for those times. Suffice it to say that to complete the first Donkey Kong Country with a score of 101% you had to run through the entire game in less than an hour without losing a single life and collecting all the numerous secret bonuses.
The first and second parts of the game (1994 and 1995, respectively) were so successful that they are still superhits today. You can play them, for example, with a Switch subscription, which gives you access to the best Nintendo projects for consoles of previous generations. The third installment of the 1996 game is also available on the same subscription, by the way, but despite high sales and a warm reception, it was still vastly inferior to its predecessors. In a recent poll by IGN, a major gamer resource, about which "Danky Kong" is better, the first two releases scored over 30% each, while the third stuck at 4%.
Then, in 1999, there was a version for the Nintendo 64 - a console that was not very popular in Russia due to its high price, and then years later Donkey Kong Country Returns was released on the Wii console, soon to be adapted for the Nintendo 3DS handheld console.
The success of the new Donkey Kong was tremendous, selling over 6.5 million copies, meaning the game was among the top 20 highest-grossing games for the console. Four years later, a sequel, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, was released on the Wii. In 2018, it made its way to the then-newly released Switch, and there still hasn't been a single Donkey Kong developed specifically for Switch, despite the gorilla's popularity and the success of past installments.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that Tropical Freeze on Switch sold less than 5 million copies. It would be strange to expect a not-so-new game to collect more, but either the Nintendo bosses couldn't agree, or they couldn't find an original concept, but somehow one of the most popular franchises in history (collectively, more than 65 million games have been sold about Danky Kong) - I don't want to say "died," but at least went to sleep.
One guess is in order. Donkey Kong Country is, of course, always very bright. Magical music, incredible backgrounds, a very inventive structure of levels that are still short enough not to get boring. Perfect controls (especially on the Super Nintendo), perfect rhythm of the game (a bit faster than in "Mario", but not as jumbled as in "Sonic"). Memorable characters, humor, diverse enemies. This is a game that leaves memories for decades, forever. But, once again, it's very difficult. No one counted how many expensive Nintendo joysticks were broken from impotent rage that again failed to pass a seemingly not so difficult level, but for some reason, in almost every nostalgic memory this image inevitably pops up.
In such products as Donkey Kong Country you usually play a few minutes a day to relax and switch, but in the case of Dunkie Kong there is a risk to hang on for hours to jump all the obstacles on the damn carriage or to jump between the parts of the crazy conveyor belt. And there is still a desire to pass the levels, collecting all the secrets, which are almost impossible to find, and to get very difficult, even if you have already realized where they are.
Why you should buy Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
Perhaps that's why the main innovation of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for Switch is not the new soundtrack (very beautiful) and the backdrops that turned into colorful landscapes (also very beautiful), but the steps towards non-hardcore gamers that the developers made. Of course, the classic mode is also left, where Kong or his buddy Diddy only need one awkward contact with an enemy - and that's it, we start again. But for those who still want to get more fun and less stress from the game, unprecedented compromises have been invented.
Each gorilla now has three hearts, three lives, which make passing through the game much easier. In the game store you can buy a lot of balls-lives and even a special marvelous ball that saves the hero from falling into the abyss. Where have you seen such a thing? Finally, even if you can't pass the level with all these benefits, the player is offered to choose the "Super Kong" mode: a gray gorilla enters the frame and runs the level for us on autopilot. It is considered passed, you can move on, and come back here if you want. For example, to collect secrets or just once again to test their strength.
The trend to simplify the gameplay in general is very common. New projects about "Mario" have characters that are practically immortal, so that even a small child can pass the level without tears. What's done in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD in this direction is an important step. Admittedly, there are other aspects of the game that could have been worked on as well, but no one did.
The most annoying thing is the two-player mode. If there are two characters on the screen, you have to control them almost synchronously. If one character goes forward, and the second character lags slightly behind, he is considered dead. It would be possible to expand the frame so that the characters were not crowded in a small area, and the problem would be solved. But that didn't happen, so after a few failed attempts at multiplayer, gamers will likely just take turns playing, even though it's not that exciting at all.
It's great that Donkey Kong Country Returns HD has levels that were added when it was ported to the 3DS, but it begs the question: why wasn't a few more completely fresh ones added? Well, okay, if there's no inspiration, they could have ported over completely revamped levels from past Donkey Kong Country installments or something else, because now the audience that played past Nintendo consoles 15 years ago is writing outraged comments about how a normal person wouldn't pay for the same thing a third time.
There is no Russian translation in the game (a copy for Izvestia was provided by the importer - Achivka), but Donkey Kong Country, like Mario, has always been organized in such a way that the characters act more often than they talk, and the story is exactly as much as you need to start playing as soon as possible, without getting distracted by specifics. For example, in the novelty Danky Kong island was invaded by flying voodoo masks, which hypnotized all the fauna, but failed to cope with the gorillas, and they rushed into battle - for their homeland and for bananas. It hardly needs translation.
Catchy, hooligan, diverse, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD will be a must-have for most Switch owners. A couple of spoonfuls of tar can hardly hurt it, because if the main task of video games is to give emotions, the gorilla from the Kong family has few competitors. If there are any left at all.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
